It is true that the Patidars, an ascendant caste, is an aspirational
class that has certain grievances. Since the mid-eighties when their
aspirations had sky-rocketed, these aspirations could never be
adequately met, thanks to the lopsided, non-inclusive economic policies
of the state. The political class is well aware of this, has been
misguiding the youth and channelizing their discontent and rage against
the reservation system by portraying it as the root cause of the
problem. This is far from the truth. The real causative factors for the
discontent are the shrinking educational and employment opportunities,
privatization of education and the consequent unaffordability of
quality education, jobless and non-inclusive growth and the burgeoning
unrealistic aspirations fuelled by the desire to emulate the lifestyles
of their kith and kin in the US.

Those who are aware of the logic of the reservation system know very
well that it was never intended to be an economic measure; or an
employment programme. It was a significant constitutional provision
instituted to ensure fair access of the public education system to the
castes that were historically denied access by the dominant castes
through the centuries old caste-based social exclusion mechanism. The
constitution extends the same logic to public sector jobs, and
envisages reservation as a strategy to secure proportional
representation of members of the SCs, STs (and later on the OBCs). It
is only too obvious that jobs in the public sector would not, by any
stretch of imagination, provide any significant measure of employment
that would solve the unemployment or fulfil the aspirations of the
ascendant castes like the Patidars. The total number of persons
employed in the organized public and private sectors put together for
the whole country is only about 2.97 crores for the whole of India. So
we can imagine how miniscule the number of organized sector jobs would
be in Gujarat or any state for that matter! And now with most
governments reducing recruitment, it is an ever shrinking sector. How
would such a miniscule, shrinking organized sector absorb such a large
number of youth (such as the Patidar youth)? This clearly proves that
the economic policies followed by our nation (including Gujarat) over
the past 2-3 decades have not created enough jobs despite growth; and
this is bound to lead to more such protests across the country. In
Gujarat this would be particularly acute since the Modi-propelled
‘Gujarat model’ has raised unrealistic aspirations beyond all
permissible limits and had misled people to believe in the myth of
‘vibrant Gujarat’. Modi has carried the same myth-making strategy to
the national level, riding on the aspirations and translating them into
votes. In Gujarat, as the myths fade and reality exposes its ugly face,
we see discontent and anger spilling out onto the streets.

Managing the protests to steer them towards the real agenda

But as in
the 80s this rage is being ‘managed’ socially and politically. The
Sangh Pariah has clearly charted out the script of the next phase of
social engineering. The demand of the Patidar youth to be included in
OBC is the first step towards this. Let us examine this scenario:

Acceding to the Patidar demand for inclusion in OBC is bound to
exacerbate social conflict with the OBCs if the 50% cap imposed by the
Supreme Court has to be adhered to.

The dominant castes (Brahmins, Vaishyas and others) would strongly resist any move to legislate to remove the 50% limit.

The Patidars have been the strongest drivers of the Hindutva in Gujarat
and did manage to bring down the Congress that had won with a brute
majority (149/180) through the anti-reservation agitation of the 80s;
and the Congress Party could never come back to power in Gujarat again.
They are again on the war path, this time demanding reservations by
including them in the OBC, or doing away with reservations altogether.

For the Sangh, the reservation policy is the most important factor that
militates against reinforcing Hindutva as the single most significant
organizing principle of Indian society. Reservation policy is founded
on the constitutional acceptance of caste based discrimination and
exclusion and hence the need for affirmative action on behalf of those
communities that are victims of such discrimination and exclusion. The
existence of reservation and special legislative provisions (such as
the SC and ST Prevention of Atrocities Act) are thus a day-to-day
indictment of the Brahminical social order, required to be countered
through legitimate state action. Hence for the Sangh, Reservations have
to go.

<>The Sangh (including the BJP) knows that any constitutional amendment
to eliminate or dilute the reservation policy would be impossible with
the current seat position and political profile of parties in
Parliament. Samajik Samrasta – beyond reservations Hence for the Sangh
it is extremely important to initiate social engineering in the
following manner while the BJP is still in power: “Let the Patidar rage
spill over. Let the Jats and the Gurjars and the Marathas
and all such ascendant castes voice the same demand. Let there be
incidents of violent conflicts of these communities with the OBCs and
SCs and STs who feel threatened by their demand for inclusion in OBCs –
who very well know that their real agenda is to end reservations. Thus
build up a precarious condition of social conflict in the country which
requires the BJP government and the Parivar to manage a process of
‘conflict resolution’ – a ‘dialogue’ among unequal communities – held
under the watchful eyes of a fascist state. So the outcome of the
‘dialogue’ for ‘conflict resolution’ would be predictable – where the
Hindutva concept of ‘Samajik Samrasta’ would become paramount; and be
brandished to buy over OBC, SC and ST leaders”. >

The above is what the Sangh has scripted; and would like to see unfold.
If successful, India would change beyond recognition. Civil society as
we know it has been infiltrated by the new intelligentsia; universities
and research institutions are being silenced through appointment of
those under the tutelage of the Sangh. NGOs have been put in place with
the new controls legislated. But it is for the SC, ST and OBC
communities and all secular activists in the country to become aware of
the diabolic moves of the Sangh Parivar and counter it socially and
politically. We still can change the course of a scripted, foretold
history, if we want to